Parties, observers and accessions

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Parties

Most parties have been bound by the GPA 2012 since its entry into force. Some ratified/acceded to the Agreement at a later date, as shown below. The table also shows the date of entry into force of the GPA 1994 and the GPA 2012 for each party.

 

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Observers 

Any WTO member may participate in the Government Procurement Committee as an observer by submitting a written notice to the Committee. Any WTO observer may submit a written request, and may be accorded observer status by the Committee.

International intergovernmental organizations granted observer status in the Committee on Government Procurement

• International Monetary Fund
• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
• International Trade Centre 
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

 

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Accession to the GPA 

All WTO members are eligible to accede to the GPA 2012. At present, WTO members are in the process of acceding .   Four other WTO members have undertaken commitments, in their WTO accession protocols, to initiate accession to the GPA 2012.

Pending GPA accession negotiations

GPA accession commitments of WTO members that have not yet applied for accession to the GPA 2012

The accession process starts with the submission of an application for accession and has two main aspects. First, it involves negotiations between the acceding member and parties of the GPA on the former's GPA coverage (market access commitments). The coverage negotiations determine the procuring entities and goods and services sectors of the acceding member's public procurement market that the acceding member wishes to open to international competition. Second, the accession process serves to ensure that the acceding member's procurement legislation is consistent with the GPA's requirements — for example, regarding transparency, procedural fairness for suppliers and domestic review.

An acceding member's GPA coverage offer identifies its proposed coverage with respect to four areas:

• its procuring entities to be covered under the Agreement
• the goods, services and construction services to be covered under the Agreement
• its threshold values above which procurement activities are to be covered by the Agreement
• exceptions to the proposed coverage.

The disciplines of the GPA 2012 only apply to the entities, goods and services sectors and contract values (above certain financial thresholds) specified in a GPA party's appendix to the GPA 2012. Typically, the parties to the GPA 2012 cover most entities at the central government level as well as entities at the sub-central government level and other entities, such as state-owned enterprises.  

The GPA 2012 also provides important flexibilities for developing country parties to manage their transition to a more internationally competitive government procurement regime. Pursuant to Article V of the GPA 2012, special and differential treatment for developing countries in the form of transitional measures such as offsets, price preference programmes, initially higher thresholds and phasing-in of entities, can be negotiated by a developing acceding country in the accession process, subject to the agreement of the other parties and the acceding member's development needs.

Once the terms of accession have been agreed between the GPA parties and the acceding WTO member, the Committee adopts a decision inviting the member to accede to the Agreement. The decision specifies the agreed terms and provides a timeframe for the acceding member to deposit its instrument of accession with the WTO Director-General (typically three to six months).

For a comprehensive compilation of documents relating to accessions, please refer to the Note by the Secretariat entitled “Systematic Compilation of Documents Concerning Individual GPA Accession Processes”, which is updated periodically to reflect the latest documents (GPA/S/1).

The WTO Secretariat provides technical assistance to assist developing country WTO members interested in learning more about the GPA 2012 and/or acceding to the GPA 2012. Where appropriate and desired by accession candidates, other intergovernmental organizations (e.g. regional development banks) or governance-focused institutes may also provide technical assistance with regard to GPA accession.

Accession to the GPA 2012  provides important benefits for the parties to the GPA, their entities and suppliers. These include:

• potential trade gains based on legally assured access to the covered foreign procurement markets
• ensuring a transparent, competitive and predictable government procurement regime,
• contributing to good governance in this sector
• keeping markets open in times of crisis where the temptation for protectionism rises
• in the context of acceding candidates, the GPA can help to reform the government procurement sector in line with international best practices, and lock in the benefits of such reforms
• improved public, supplier and investor confidence in the government procurement system, potentially stimulating inbound foreign direct investment
• enhanced competition for contracts, leading to improved value for money outcomes
• facilitating a more effective and efficient use of public resources.

The GPA provides a useful tool for optimizing value for money, good governance and trade objectives in the government procurement sector. Participation in the GPA also affords the opportunity to influence the future evolution of the Agreement.